Bourne on the Bayeux.

April 12, 2007 5:57 PM

The Bayeux Tapestry, animated (YouTube). Or, if you prefer, the tapestry served as old school, Web 1.0 embedded images, scene-by-scene with explanatory text (official site), and as a QuickTime VR panorama. (Previously, the Historic Tale Construction Kit.)
posted by steef (12 comments total)

Bayeux Tapestry animated by David Newton.
posted by steef at 5:57 PM on April 12, 2007

I love the Warcraft sound byte in "William Orders an Invasion Fleet to be Built."
posted by Demogorgon at 6:05 PM on April 12, 2007

All over the animation, in fact.
posted by Demogorgon at 6:08 PM on April 12, 2007

Bayreux, surely?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:14 PM on April 12, 2007

My old Medieval Art professor's sole bit of nitpickery was to correct anyone who referred to the Bayeux Embroidery as a Tapestry. The images were sewn onto a long piece of cloth, rather than woven into it, so it is more properly called embroidery. She also liked pointing out all of the cocks in the thing, so I respect her wishes. One of the required texts for that class was a book that reproduced the entire thing in one very long foldout. After the class ended, we used it like a wallpaper border in our living room for some time -- it looked quite nice, and the cocks were not distinguishable at that scale, so no visiting parents were offended (by that, at any rate).
posted by Rock Steady at 7:30 PM on April 12, 2007

Rock Steady, I'm pretty sure I have that very book, saw the thing way back in '99 on the way trough W Europe, a pretty neat thing in of itself. IIRC it was at one point going to be used by French troops to cover up their gear from the rain.
posted by edgeways at 10:30 PM on April 12, 2007

Wow, the animation was pretty cool. Of course, the "tapestry" is pretty darned cool to start with.
posted by litlnemo at 6:05 AM on April 13, 2007

I visited Bayeux last year and saw the tapestry in person. Well worth a visit; the interpretation in the museum is great. First you read some text about it that's boring but informative, then you watch a film that explains the thing with some hokey narration that's quite entertaining, then you view the actual tapestry with a fantastic audioguide. By hearing the explanation three different ways you really come to understand it. It's not often you get to read a 900+ year old comic book.

They didn't explain why there's so much horse cock in it, though. I'm not talking a bit of anatomical correctness; there's a lot of rich detail, varied colouration, etc. Rock Steady, do you know?
posted by Nelson at 7:10 AM on April 13, 2007

I don't know if I would consider youtube a web 2.0 technology.
posted by bigmusic at 7:26 AM on April 13, 2007

Oh. Horse cocks. Thanks, Nelson. Rock Steady: I ruined my damn eyesight.
posted by steef at 8:49 AM on April 13, 2007

Nelson - The embroidery was made under duress by Saxon women as directed by their Norman conquerors, and they snuck in all sorts of inside jokes and commentary. There is one scene in particular where the Normans are clearly riding mares into battle while the Saxons ride mighty stallions -- which was apparently quite the diss back then.

edgeways - My understanding is that it was found being used as a tarpaulin by French troops by a superior officer who luckily knew what it was and put it away somewhere.

steef - there are actual man cocks, too, in the marginalia. The dude pointing to the right in this image, f'rinstance.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:11 PM on April 15, 2007

I thought the storyline was a little too linear.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:36 AM on May 4, 2007